Keeping the lights on, while going away

A business is like a factory. There’s always something happening throughout the day:

Enquiries from new customers

Trial customers walking in for taking new classes

Regular members attending (or skipping!) classes

Teachers taking (or skipping!) classes

People renewing their packages (or not!)

Questions/feedback from members about a certain aspect of their practice or the class timings or the quality of teaching or whatever else.

And so on..

The question is this: How does the founder of an institution that has so much going on 7 days a week, leave on a 14-day Vipassana session? 14 days of silence with no contact at a remote location - with no contact with the outside world!

Specifically, Santhanam’s concerns were the following:

“Will the studio continue to operate smoothly in my absence?”

“Will Neelam - who has little experience in handling a yoga center’s operations - still be able to take care of everything?”

“Will I be able to review everything that happens during my absence, once I return?”

“Will all important events be recorded, so that I can easily respond to any pressing matters, that still need my attention?”

The power of software

If you look closely at the above concerns, it’ll become clear that all of those things can be handled by a well-designed software system.

Let’s look at each of his concerns one by one:

Will the studio continue to operate smoothly in my absence?

Yes. Yoga Tree takes care of everything from handling enquiries to trial class booking to following up with customers for payments. And even checking-in on customers if they’re being irregular. Everything is automatic.

Will Neelam - who has little experience in handling a yoga center’s operations - still be able to take care of everything?

Yes. As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, the system requires very little training for someone new joining the team.

But it doesn’t end there. The fact that a lot of things happen automatically and behind the scenes, means that Neelam doesn’t actually need to do much. Other than react to specific things that show up in the system - calling out for her attention.

﻿Will I be able to review everything that happens during my absence, once I return?

Yes. Here are some specific examples:

All incoming calls are recorded. Santhanam can review any conversations with specific customers - to make sure they were attended to properly. And if not, he knows which customers he needs to call up - to discuss what issue. Without bothering Neelam or his customer.

Reports can be generated for a variety of purposes. Whether that’s about the classes that happened or the revenue that came in or the outstanding payments that are still pending.

Will all important events be recorded, so that I can easily respond to any pressing matters, that still need my attention?

Yes. Our alerting systems will clearly indicate whether there are things that are urgent things that need his attention. Whether that is unanswered calls or people who came in for trials who are yet to sign up.

Once Santhanam returned from his Vipassana session, he logs into Yoga Tree to check on the following:

What enquiries had come in? And what did they enquire about? Group classes, personal classes or workshops?

Did all the group and personal classes happen on schedule?

What payments had come in during the last two weeks? Which payments are still pending?

Were there any students not attending classes regularly? Who were they? And had they sent any messages personal messages to him?

Freedom

At the end of the day, its about Freedom.

Freedom to have your own space.

Freedom to have some peace and quiet.

Freedom to zoom out and get new perspectives and ideas.

Freedom to get the downtime to rejuvenate.

Santhanam is now back from his Vipassana session.

Question for you: How many concerns/questions did he have for us - the Yoga Tree team?